A variety of methods have been developed for marking and subsequent identification of various items, such as groceries and automobile components. Such marking methods are typically employed for keeping track of items during their storage, distribution, and sale.
One frequently used method for marking an object is data matrix bar coding. Typically, a data matrix code is a two-dimensional, rectangular pattern of characters having a predetermined number of rows and columns. The information to be encoded can be in a text format, or may be encoded as raw data. Generally, encoded data ranges from a few bytes up to 2 kilobytes. The length of the encoded data depends on the dimensions of the matrix being used. As more data is encoded in the matrix, the number of cells in the rows and columns of the matrix will increase. Data matrix sizes generally vary from 8×8 to 144×144. A data matrix is generally capable of storing up to 2,335 alphanumeric characters.